Got You Back
by Laura Schiller
Summary: Coda to "Dead Stop". Travis played a prank on Hoshi shortly before his "death". Now that he's alive, she's out for revenge.


Got You Back

By Laura Schiller

Based on: _Star Trek: Enterprise_

Copyright: Paramount (Song lyrics copyrighted by Warner/Chappell Music)

Author's Note: If you don't like the idea of an Easter-themed Christian gospel song used in a practical joke, you probably shouldn't read this. Anyone else is welcome.

/

As soon as he was released from Sickbay after a night of observation, Ensign Travis Mayweather showered, had breakfast, and reported for duty as usual. Phlox had advised him to take the day off, but the last thing he wanted was to hole up in his cabin and brood over what had happened. He wanted people around him, he wanted normalcy, and he wanted it soon.

Hoshi kept her head down as he walked past her station. The night shift helmsman smiled at him a little too widely as she vacated the helm. He wondered what rumors had been spreading around the ship about him, and decided he didn't want to know.

"Set a course," said Captain Archer, reciting the bearing and heading in a reassuringly casual tone.

"Aye, Captain," said Travis.

But as soon as his fingers touched the screen, a sharp beep sounded across the bridge.

"Sir, I can't – I'm locked out of helm control."

This had happened once or twice before, usually because of some minor computer malfunction that Engineering could easily correct. You had to expect a few bugs on a ship that had left space dock ahead of schedule.

But today, Travis found himself struggling not to panic. The last time _Enterprise_'s technology had turned against him, he'd been sedated, abducted and had his brain tied into an alien computer. He might still be there, trapped forever, if Dr. Phlox hadn't realized that the "corpse" of Travis Mayweather was only a copy.

"Bridge to Engineering," Archer grumbled. "Is the helm console working? Travis is locked out."

"_Dunno, Cap'n. It all looks okay from here." _Tucker's Southern drawl over the comm sounded amused. _"Didn't leave the parkin' brake on, did ya, Travis?"_

"I can't even touch the damn screen!" Travis caught himself snapping at his senior officer on duty. "Sorry, Commander."

Lieutenant Reed gave him an icy look of disapproval. So did Subcommander T'Pol. Hoshi still wasn't looking at him. Archer got up from his chair to loom over his helmsman's shoulder and frown at the malfunctioning screen, a habit of his that always made Travis nervous, and never more so than now.

"_S'okay," _said Tucker. _"Try again, I'll monitor from down here an' see what happens. Could be a bug left over from that alien station."_

That was exactly what Travis had been afraid of. This couldn't be happening. Not again.

He gritted his teeth and touched the console.

Another loud noise made him recoil, but not a beep this time. It was an electric guitar, a high-pitched female voice that rang with infectious delight, and a chorus of background singers.

"_HE'S ALIVE! _

_Oh, he's alive! _

_He's alive and I'm forgiven!_

_Heaven's gates are open wide!"_

Space Boomers tended to have old-fashioned taste in music, being out of communications range of Earth - and therefore out of touch with popular culture – for years at a time. Travis' new friends on _Enterprise_ teased him about that often enough, but he always retorted that the classics were timeless, and he'd made sure they could at least recognize the 20th and 21st-century greats when they heard them. Including Dolly Parton.

Now he knew what was going on.

"HOSHI!" he yelled over the music. "This your idea of payback?"

His first instinct was outrage. She'd scared him half to death with that little trick, not to mention embarrassing him in front of their superiors. But when he jumped out of his chair and swung around to glare at her, her dainty hand was covering her mouth, her silvery laugh rang out alongside the music, and her black eyes sparkled.

He'd never seen her so beautiful.

Besides … _Dolly freaking Parton_ was blasting across the bridge.

"Turn that off!" Archer ordered, covering his ears, but with an irrepressible grin on his face.

Hoshi's hands danced over the communication console, and the music cut off. The giggles she'd been trying to hold back were so loud in the sudden silence that Travis couldn't help joining in.

Archer laughed too from where he stood behind the helm. Tucker chimed in over the comm, gleeful as a little boy. Even Reed let out a surprisingly undignified snort that only set the rest of them off more. Only T'Pol remained poker-faced at her station, raising an eyebrow in bemusement at the illogical humans she had to work with.

Travis thumped the side of the console, laughing his demons away until they fled. There was no computer virus. There was no danger. It was a prank, only a prank, cooked up by Hoshi as payback for that time he'd tried to pass off a bowl of strawberry jelly as an alien life form she had to communicate with. He was surrounded by friends. He was safe.

He was alive.

"Was that you we have to thank for the impromptu concert, Hoshi?" said Archer, trying to give Hoshi his best captain's frown, but not quite succeeding.

"I just wanted to let Mr. Mayweather know how grateful we are to have him back, sir," said Hoshi, with such an innocent face that it would have melted a much sterner commanding officer.

"For God's sake, Ensign, that could have been dangerous!" Reed snapped. "What if there was an emergency and we needed to escape?"

Hoshi turned a deep shade of rose and bowed her head.

"_Hey, don't be too hard on her," _said Tucker over the comm. _"I'm the one that hacked the console, okay? An' I promise, we scanned that station and the surrounding space up'n'down. If there was even a whiff o' trouble, we wouldn't'a done it. So keep yer shirt on, Lieutenant."_

The armory officer muttered something too low for Travis to hear, but probably less than complimentary of the chief engineer.

"Not to be a spoilsport here, folks," said Archer, "But Malcolm's right. We're all glad to have our helmsman safe and sound," he patted Travis on the shoulder before crossing the room to where Hoshi sat, "But save the practical jokes for your off hours, okay?"

"I will, sir," said Hoshi, still blushing, but looking the captain squarely in the face. "This won't happen again, I swear."

"Um, Commander Tucker?" Travis spoke up. "Can I have helm control back now?"

That released another, softer wave of laughter around the bridge.

"_Sure thing," _came the good-natured answer._ "Tucker out."_

/

Travis caught up to Hoshi in the turbolift on the way to lunch. They were the last ones as usual, the senior officers having gone ahead, and so they had the lift to themselves.

"So I'm your Jesus, huh?" he teased. "Didn't think you were into gospel."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, mister. It was the only song I knew that fit the context." Hoshi grinned up at him. "I really got you back, didn't I?"

He was no linguist, but he knew her well enough to recognize the double meaning in those words. Underneath the triumph of her successful revenge was her joy at his survival, so deep that it humbled him.

"You got me good," he said. "You and Trip. Man, we're never gonna hear the end of this."

"Did you see T'Pol?" She raised one delicate eyebrow in a perfect imitation of their Vulcan science officer. "And Malcolm, oh my gosh, I can only imagine what they must think of me right now." She covered her eyes with her hands as if to block out the embarrassment of her disapproving seniors, but when she lowered them, her eyes were still sparkling.

"So what?" Travis held up his palm. "You were _awesome._"

Instead of high-fiving him, though, she shocked him for the second time that day by throwing her arms around him and squeezing tight.

"Um … Hoshi?" He patted her tentatively on the back with one hand and reached over to halt the turbolift with the other. He knew how much gossip there could be on a starship if people saw them like this. He didn't mind for himself, but he knew what a private person Hoshi was.

"We thought you were dead." Her voice sounded muffled, and not just because her face was buried in the crook of his neck. She was crying. "I … I thought … I'd never see you again."

"Oh … yeah." He felt stupid, not knowing how to reply. Reminding her he wasn't dead was too obvious; he was right here in her arms, after all.

He couldn't even remember what had been done to him. He'd been unconscious the whole time on that alien station, which was a whole different kind of nightmare. His fellow victims haunted him too, whoever they were; blowing up the station had saved his life and those of his shipmates, but it had also killed dozens of innocent people, even if they had already been beyond saving.

He didn't even know their names, but they'd still be alive – in a manner of speaking – if it weren't for him. Why did he have to go down to the launch bay anyway, when Archer had warned the crew that it was off limits? Couldn't he tell the difference between the voice of his own captain and a computer-generated fake?

Maybe Phlox was right. Maybe Travis did need to go back to Sickbay and make some use of the doctor's degree in psychiatry.

But in the meantime, it wasn't too difficult to climb up out of a well of dark thoughts when his beautiful friend was holding him.

"Hey." He tugged gently on Hoshi's ponytail to get her to look up into his face. "Before you get too emotional, this isn't over, you hear me?" he murmured. "One of these days, I'll get you back too."

"Is that a threat?"

Before he could lose his nerve, he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her on the forehead.

"It's a promise."


End file.
